Back on the coast, baby!

The ocean....just saying the word makes everything seem better and waking up to it everyday is simply unbeatable!

After another 15 hours of travel, (approximately 500kms here in India!), which consisted of 14 hours of an aggrevating, horn honking, mosquito ridden bus ride, where we experianced approximately 150 near death experiances,followed by a short ferry ride and a tuk tuk adventure, we arrived in Fort Kochi. Its one of the many small islands that make up this part of the Malabar Coast in southern India. A super laid back, colonial town with picturesque, portugese inspired buildings, lazy winding alleyways and calm waters.

Didn't do much here except unwind and wash off the dirt that had accumulated inland. A cooking class took up one afternoon, and slowly meandering through the silent, but expressive streets, and watching the fisherman with their cantilever chinese nets managed to fill the rest of the 2 days.

On sunday, we arrived in Allepphey, pleasantly surprised since the dreaded bus trip was for once incredible easy. This little place in the transport hub for the backwaters of Kerala. Its a dizzying network consisting of about 900kms worth of small waterways. Its home to what seems like an infinite amount of tiny villages and rice paddies. We spent a lazy 8 hours in a canoe, drifting in and out of peoples daily lives and soaking up the sun!

On a sidenote, oscar craze hit India hard and everyone is so proud of Slumdog millionaire here...its a beautiful thing!. =)

Our newest travel partner!

Meet JIMM...that's right...not 1 but 2 "M's" . He is the guitar that Dom and I bought to accompany us on our travels. We have creatively adorned him with the best and most expensive Indian stickers our rupees can buy.....I especially love the ones of the Bollywood actors....they say it all!!!..

Mysore

The gate to the palace at sunset

Haan and I in his shop ^

Hanging out in Mysore was a welcome relief from Bangalore. Although it was just as hot, dirty and exhausting, it had its moments and places of beautiful calm.

Anyone who practices Ashtanga yoga is familiar with Mysore. Its considered the international yoga capital of the world and Pattabhi Jois ( who is a living master, and at 94 can still contort his body in ways that seem impossible) teaches here. Despite the fact that he's been famous in yogic circles forever, in the all consuming world of pop culture that seems to capture most of our interest, he is the guy that taught Madonna her moves and gave her those toned arms!. Unfortunately, all his classes were booked up, which was probably for the best!

I did manage to fit a few classes in though and learnt that Mysore teaching style is different then most. No one actually leads a class, the idea and emphasize being a silent self practice amongst the combined energy and vibrations of the people around you. The teacher walks around and gently adjusts your postures as necessary, simply offering his presence. It really helped me to diversify and understand my outlook on self practice and was a strong experience!

But beyond the yoga mat, Mysore is also known for its sandalwood oil...which is considered the scent of the gods by the Hindu people and is liquid gold these days going for 950rupees, $25, for 5ml....

Its incense.....which is all handmade and because its fresh, you find yourself being enticed by the extraordinary fragrances that waft from every direction.

The silk....which has managed to encompass more colors and patterns then one could ever visualize, and are displayed brilliantly on every street. All the beauty did inspire me to get a dress made ..... but like everything here in India, the idea got somewhat lost in translation and the finish product may not have been exactly what I had envisioned!...but it was soo close =)

and the essential oils....which are so cheap and smell so amazing!

hand rolling the incense

The bazaar here was visually stunning and was a photographers heaven. I made friends with Haan and Noor who run a stall selling oils and incense. Shop #40 has been around since 1976, back in the day when their grandfather ran it. Its a family business and everyone helps out. I spent 2 full afternoons with them in the market, drinking the never ending, way to sweet chais and learning about the oil, the incense and their life....it was time well spent and in the excitement of never smelling bad again, I purchased, with gusto, more oils and incense then I will ever use...what can you do!

You guessed it, incense souvenirs for everyone =)

The Maharaja's Palace was quite the sight both during the day and at night. Apparently that's what $4million dollars back in the early 1900's will get you! And after 4 nights in Mysore, I was ready to hit up the coast.. its the only place that seems bearable in this heat!...

And they stare....

Sooo... have a mentioned that they ( the indian people) love to stare.....I mean LOVE, obsessed, in plain view...never trying to be discreet about it, wide eye men ( and sometimes women) who will even stop everything and anything they are doing just to stare! Its impossible to avoid.....from buying a water, to taking a picture, to eating fruit it just doesn't matter..I could be doing nothing and still they would be inclined to stare. Its a weird, unknown sensation to be watched by hundreds of inquisitive, interested eyes all the time and I still haven't gotten used to it. So one hot and sticky afternoon in the market hoping to gain some valuable insight, I asked someone "why?" His response, while vigorously bobbing his head ( another interesting phenomenon found only in this culutre) was " yep, that's what we do!" And the simplicity of that answer sums up this country.....it just is, no reason or explantation needed, no logic that we can understand......it just is!

Bangalore

That is smog in the picture not fog!

Being my first Indian city I had a slight inclination that it was going to be crazy...but its beyond CRAZY! Its dubbed the 'silicon valley' of India, as this is where the IT boom took place. Which means there is money here, and in a very small part of the city its visible. The modern shopping malls, theatres, the growing pub culture, coffee shops etc. But the majority of the city still a mess and its those parts where the rhythm and the pulse exist in an undefined chaos that I can't even begin to describe. 6 million people and easily just as many, scooters, cars, buses, and tuk tuks (Adrienne, its worse then Saigon if you can believe it!) Hardly any traffic lights and accordingly, seemingly no laws, lanes or courtesy. No garbage cans, washrooms are any and everywhere and the smog seems to have a life of its own. Its unsettling, thick and heavy as a fog that suffocates your lungs every time you breathe in. Walking down the street (that have no sidewalks, just slabs of concrete placed casually in what resembles a line) you are fully aware of sensory overload. A battle ensues as your scent of smell fights between unknown food being cooked, burning incense from temples being worshipped, the scent of alcohol from tiny 'bars' hidden in back alleys, the urine, pollution, the sweat, the sweet smell of jasmine flowers and fresh fruit; all of it mingling together creating the air.

Your eyes struggle between watching the obscene amount of traffic which consists of everything from ox and cart to land rovers, the brilliant colored Saree's of the women, the disbelief of the tragic amount of poverty, the awe of witnessing the old merging with new, the east meeting the west.
Your are ears pulled by the unrelenting cry of horns, the unrecognizable words of many different languages and dialects being spoken passionately, the cellphones being used as boom boxes distorting the newest Hindi dance music, the struggle for life being lived.

You feel the heat of sun, the film of dirt on your skin, the relief of shade that a tree can provide, the reality that you are in a completely different world and the amount of energy it takes to absorb it all in....its another side of India and its definitely crazy!

Happy in Hampi

Is in the state of Karnataka, located almost in the middle of southern India. The speak Kannada here, so I guess we can something in common! Its a quaint, organic place set among temples and palaces from the 13th century. At one point it was the largest Hindu empire and its still fairly impressive. The ruins are surprisingly, mostly still intact and the entire area is surrounded by massive boulders that balance precariously on one another. The combination of both set the scene for breathtaking sunsets and sitting atop on of the quintessential, must have roof top patios, you get the feeling you have entered a scene from the Flintstones!

At dusk, our hotel seemed to be a bit out of place, as it occupied the same street as every single cow, goat, dog and chicken in the town. They all congregated there to sleep and was like walking through a barnyard to get to your room. (just like Alberta dad!)

With the temple elephant bathing in the river and the monkeys that hung out on our hotel roof, you begin to wonder if you are in a zoo! But the most amazing part is that the entire thing just works... effortlessly, without reason, simply existing as if no other way was ever known...Hampi was a very cool experiance!

< the puja

the class...feeling fine in '09

movin' on to the next great adventure!

So........officially finished the course....1 month, 100 hours of lectures, and 120 hours of yoga practice, resulted in the collective energy of 14 freshly inspired yoga teachers....... accumulating from 10 different countries, we are all leaving with a hope to bring some compassion and sensitivity to the people we may encounter from this point on!....It really has been an incredible journey....intensely dynamic, challenging and absolutely beautiful and true....It was the perfect arena for growth and knowledge and despite the tone of my last blog, I could have easily stayed on a couple of weeks longer. The third week was definitely the hardest struggle for me...my body was super tired and my mind had been trying to process so much information that it felt like it was at capacity. But I am back on the high again and its been hard to go =(.....

I have also been graced with the presence of unbelievable people the past month......and couldn't have asked for a better group to spend 28 days with.....parting ways Monday was hard...and that's the part of travelling that never gets easier....but with plans underway, a few of us are planning the next big meet up!

Graduation was on Sunday......it started with a puja....a closing ceremony to give thanks to the deity or guru, and then headed to the beach to light on fire our version of a 'burning man' during sunset. We literally built a statue of a man with wood and scraps and burnt it.....not really sure why, perhaps in celebration of the arts, but it was interesting!.....Made me want to hit up the real 'Burning Man' this year in Nevada....anyone interested?!..

Met up with Dominic yesterday and we took the overnight bus from Panjim to Hampi........and as in any developing country, nothing is as easy as it should be!...so... the overnight bus sounds like a brilliant concept....you get a bed, its cooler then during the day and with any luck you might even be able to catch a haphazard sleep...sounds lovely right?....except the bed is shared and resembles a box, (reminded me of those cardboard forts you used to make when you were a kid), it had the loudest engine ever, there was a constant smell of diesel, that coincided with the constant honking of horns and then, but of course, it broke down!.... 15 hours later we finally arrived........tired, and grumpy, but with another great story! Hampi is inland and an ancient city from the 1500's with some pretty impressive ruins still in tact......its quaint and more like the India I was expecting to encounter...

Gonna spend a few days here and then heading to Mysore and Bangalore...not much else to report...have been eating some out of this world indian food and am there is a possibility I might end up fat as everything here is made with ghee...but one must experiance, so its a chance I will take!...

Hope all is well where ever you may be.......will write again soon!!!

xx